Back To Luther... and the old (German) Missouri Synod. Below are thoughts, confessions, quotations from a Missouri Synod Lutheran (born 1952) who came back to his old faith... and found more treasures than he knew existed in the training of his youth.
The great Lutheran lineage above: Martin Luther, C.F.W. Walther, Franz Pieper.

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Sunday, January 19, 2014

Ngaiso Chekina Day

Tomorrow, January 20, 2014, is officially celebrated in the United States to commemorate a man named (in part) after Martin Luther. However "MLK Jr." in many ways provided doubts about a Christian faith as I blogged 2 years ago. And so I am providing an alternate person to honor on this day – Ngaiso Chekina, pictured below.

We have a report
tonight from the latest and most urgent crisis unfolding in our world. This is happening in Africa, where the
growing violence between Christians and Muslims raised fears of genocide. We're
talking about the Central African Republic, a nation about the size of state of
Texas, where almost half the population of 4-1/2 million is now in need of
direct and urgent humanitarian assistance.
NBC's Ann Curry is one of the few western reporters to make her way
there.

Ann Curry's
report:

The violence has
forced nearly a million people from their homes into camps across the Central
African Republic. The vast majority of
them children, including 8-year old Ngaiso Chekina, in a camp full of displaced people. Her mother, father, brother,
sister, and her grandparents all killed.

"Are you
the only survivor of your family?"
She tells us she watched as her mother was shot. [Ngaiso]: "I
raised my hands to God like this, but they didn't listen to me, she says. Finally, they killed my mother." She thinks of her family constantly, telling
us "Last night I dreamt my mother was cooking rice with meat for
me." She says she couldn't stop
crying after she woke up today. In a program run by Save The Children, Ngaiso
drew a picture of a life she's lost – her home, the fish and the river behind
it, the flowers that were near the front door.
Today she lives in this camp on the grounds of a monastery, with one of
the only relatives she has left, her great aunt. She says she
has no words for the men who killed her family. Instead, she put her hands together, offering a prayer. [Ngaiso]:
"Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us." And she added, "Bless me, and keep me
safe. Amen."

Brian Williams:

Ann Curry
reporting for us tonight from the capital city of Bangui where she is telling
us there are reports that the Muslim president of the Central African Republic
could step down as soon as tomorrow, sparking fears of a power vacuum then that
could make an already dangerous situation even worse.

As you prayed
the prayer that Jesus taught us to pray: "Forgive us our sins, as we
forgive those who sin against us" and added "Bless me, and keep me
safe. Amen."... so I added my 'Amen' to yours. And my prayer is especially that He would "keep you safe",
safe in His arms that your faith may never waver unto death.

Sincerely,

BackToLuther

Mark 10:13-16
And they brought young children to him, that he should touch them: and his disciples rebuked those that brought them. But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased, and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God. Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein. And he took them up in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them.

"Sixteen months later [after Christine's birth] my brother ML was born in the same room. The child who would be known to the world as Martin Luther King, Jr. started life as Michael King, Jr. There is, of course, a story behind this name change. My paternal grandfather, James Albert King, told my father [Martin Luther King, Sr.] that when he was born[in 1899], he was named Martin after one uncle and Luther after another. Before Granddaddy King died, he made Daddy promise to get this name change confusion cleared up. True to his word, after Granddaddy King died my father did just that; he legally changed the names of himself and his oldest son."

In Parting the Waters: America in the King Years 1954-63 (Taylor Branch, Simon and Schuster, 2007, pp. 46-7), the different stories about the name change are reviewed. Branch does note the name change (in 1934) in the Atlanta telephone book went from "King, Michl L., Rev." to "King, Martin L., Rev.", while his signature remained the same, "Rev. M. L. King." This would suggest that Michael's middle name had always started with an "L."

Other claim that Michael King changed his own name and the name of his son, born in 1929, to "Martin Luther" following a trip to the Holy Land and to Germany in 1934. Given that Michael King was a Baptist, such a knowledgeable choice is also somewhat questionable.

Thanks for the added details regarding the history of the name of "MLK Jr.". I use his initials only because I do not want the search engines to be drawn to this post for his sake. The name "Luther" was not uncommon among black people 2 generations ago – I recall this particularly from the names of basketball players from around the nation. Today, it is not so. Today, the search engines more often than not turn up information on MLK Jr. when searching for the term "Martin Luther".

The issue of "race" is not something God's Word dwells on. Why? Because God's Son paid the price for all men... God is reconciled (Objective Justification) with all men (Universal Justification) and bids all men to believe His Gospel. ... And God's Law applies to all men.

So why is the issue of "race" so prominent today? It is largely used for "straw man" arguments/teaching to replace God's teaching in spiritual matters... a teaching among men. It is a "straw man" argument used by all races, whatever the color. I gave credit to President Obama for leaving a "black church" where the teaching of "race" overtook all other teaching. (I also credit Obama for chastising reporters who interrupted his family entering Sunday morning church services last year.)

By your comment, I suspect you agree that Ngaiso Chekina is more worthy of honor among Christians... more worthy because her confession of a Christian faith is more prominent. Indeed, I can hardly stop watching Ngaiso's prayer to the true God (and seeing the Good Shepherd's arms around her).

“...it would be difficult to comment on the little girl and what the video claimed she said without some additional substantiation and facts.”

I was saddened by this response of yours. I did not base my blog on the trustworthiness of NBC News, Brian Williams (Catholic?), or Ann Curry (“fallen Catholic”?) - all which are highly likely to be untrustworthy in reporting news events relating to Christianity. No, I based my blog on what was presented in spite of their untrustworthiness.

I am purposely leaving this post at the top of my blog for the rest of January just because of your comment – let us call it “Ngaiso Chekina Month”! I would love to leave it there especially in honor of “Black History Month” (February), but I have pressing words to say about the WELS and its history regarding UOJ.

But I am also leaving this story for awhile longer in honor of Franz Pieper who constantly read the newspaper accounts of events impacting Christianity in America and around the world. He amazed me with his breadth of knowledge of happenings in China, Brazil, Germany, Mexico… and America. So you see, I’m guilty as charged for being too gullible, too gullible just like Franz Pieper. When I finish my current series of blogs, I want to get back to relating more of Pieper’s many accounts from Lehre und Wehre, especially where he should have needed “some additional substantiation and facts” when he read a report of a spark of Christianity in the world.Let the reader judge this blog post of Ngaiso Chekina... and rejoice with me.

About Me

I was born into the Missouri Synod of the Lutheran Church in 1952. After largely throwing off my Christian faith in my youth, the Lord showed me back by his Word. He also showed me the wealth of true teaching in the old (German) Missouri Synod. Hence the above pseudo-name I have chosen.
You may contact me via email postmaster @ franzpieper.com